\TSfee. 


Early  Poets  of  Vermont 

.  By 
PMny  H.  White 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


Early  Poets  of  Vermont 

read  at 

Brattleboro,  Oct.  18,  1860 
before  the 

Vermont  Historical  Society 

by 
Pliny  H.  White 


Early  Poets  of  Vermont. 

BY  PLINY  H.  WHITE. 

The  real  life  of  a  people  takes  a  deeper  and  more  per 
manent  coloring  from  its  literature  than  from  any  other 
source   of  influence.     External    circumstances    change   as 
rapidly  as  the  scenes  in  the  kaleidoscope,  and  the  impression 
made  by  one  set  is  speedily  effaced  by  another.     Social 
^         customs  vary,  from  generation  to  generation,  leaving  scanty 
traces  of  their  influence,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  scores  of 
years.     Law,  though  powerful  while  it  continues,  is  subject 
<M        to  constant  modification  and  to  repeal,  and  is  not  perman 
ently  felt.     Literature  enters  into  the  very  mind  and  heart 
^       of  a  people,  becomes  a  component  part  of  their  very  nature, 
and  makes  itself  felt  not  only  in  private  but  in  active  life. 
Nor  does  its  influence  pass  away  with  the  generation  which 
first  experienced  its  power.     Committed  to  the  preserving 
V>        care  of  the  press,  it  survives  from  century  to  century,  and 
exerts  its  power  in  lands  far  distant  and  upon  people  far 
«        removed  in  time  from  the  place  and  the  century  in  which  it 
»         had  its  birth.     It  corrupts  or  purifies,  exalts  or  debases, 
^        barbarizes  or  refines,  by  a  constant,  steady,  uniform,  insen 
sible  operation,  like  that  of  the  air  we  breathe.     Never  was 
^j        there  a  wiser  saying  than  that  of  Fletcher  of  Saltoun,  "Let 
**        me  make  the  ballads  of  a  people  and  I  care  not  who  makes 
V*i        its  laws."     The  wisdom  of  that  remark  we  have  ourselves 
seen  illustrated  on  a  grand  scale  within  the  last  half  dozen 
years,  for  what  law  during  that  time  has  exerted  upon  the 
popular  mind  an  influence  so  powerful  as  the  song  of  the 
Star  Spangled  Banner  or  the  rude  ballad  of  John  Brown's 
Body  Lies  Moldering  in  the  Grave?    How  much  of  the 
character  of  the  people  as  they  are  depends  upon  the  early 
literature  of  the  State,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  determine 
with  even  approximate  accuracy;  but  so  much  is  due  to  it 


230274 


4  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

that  it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  interesting  and  instructive 
to  pass  in  review  some  of  the  literature  which  delighted  and 
influenced  our  ancestors. 

THOMAS   ROWLEY. 

Any  notice  of  the  early  literati  of  Vermont  which  should 
omit  the  name  of  Thomas  Rowley  would  do  great  injustice 
to  one  who,  though  his  poetry  was  not  equal  to  his  patriot 
ism,  was  nevertheless  the  first  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys 
who  ventured  to  express  his  thought  in  measured  lines  that 
jingled  at  the  ends.  His  verses  were  lacking  in  polish,  but 
for  that  very  reason  were  all  the  more  acceptable  among  a 
people  who  were  rough  in  all  their  ways  and  with  whom 
strength,  whether  of  muscle  or  of  mind,  was  one  of  the  car 
dinal  virtues.  His  first  appearance  in  the  history  of  Vermont 
was  as  a  resident  of  Danby,  of  which  town  he  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  town  March 
14,  1769,  was  made  the  first  town  clerk .  He  was  a  skilful 
practical  surveyor,  and  among  the  lines  run  by  him  were 
those  of  the  town  of  Philadelphia,  once  existing  in  the  north 
part  of  Rutland  County  but  long  since  extinguished  by 
being  annexed  to  its  adjoining  towns,  Goshen  and  Chit- 
tenden.  During  the  war  between  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys  and  the  Yorkers,  he  cooperated  with  Allen,  Warner, 
and  Baker;  and  it  was  by  the  poetry  he  wrote  in  relation  to 
that  controversy  that  he  attracted  attention  and  gained 
popularity.  When  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  exas 
perated  at  the  sturdy  resistance  made  by  the  settlers  on  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants,  passed  a  law  authorizing  the  Gov 
ernor  to  issue  an  order  to  Allen  and  the  other  leaders  to 
surrender  themselves  to  the  New  York  authorities,  and  in 
default  of  their  doing  so,  adjudged  them  to  be  guilty  of 
felony  and  condemned  them  to  death  without  benefit 
of  clergy,  they  issued  a  protest  against  a  law  so  barbarous 
and  unjust  on  the  face  of  it,  and  Rowley  appended  to  the 
protest  the  following  pithy  lines : 


EARLY   POETS    OF   VERMONT  5 

"When  Caesar  reigned  king  at  Rome, 
St.  Paul  was  sent  to  hear  his  doom. 
But  Roman  laws  in  a  criminal  case 
Must  have  the  parties  face  to  face, 
Or  Caesar  gives  a  flat  denial — 
But  here's  a  law  now  made  of  late 
Which  destines  men  to  awful  fate, 
And  hangs  and  damns  without  a  trial, 
Which  made  me  view  all  nature  through 
To  find  a  law  where  men  were  tied 
By  legal  act  which  doth  exact 
Men's  lives  before  they're  tried. 
Then  down  I  took  the  sacred  book 
And  turned  the  pages  o'er. 
But  could  not  find  one  of  this  kind 
By  God  or  man  before." 

His  longest  and  most  popular  poem,  which  was  printed 
on  a  broad  sheet  and  extensively  circulated,  was  written  at 
the  time  when  the  Yorkers  attempted  and  failed  to  execute 
the  writs  of  possession  which  had  been  awarded  to  them  by 
the  New  York  courts.  It  was  entitled  "The  invitation  to 
the  poor  tenants  that  live  under  their  patrons  in  the  province 
of  New  York  to  come  and  settle  on  our  good  land  under  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants": 

"Come  all  you  labouring  hands 

That  toil  below, 
Among  the  rocks  and  sands; 

That  plow  and  sow, 
Upon  your  hired  lands 
Let  out  by  cruel  hands; 
'Twill  make  you  large  amends 

To  Rutland  go. 

Your  pateroons  forsake, 

Whose  greatest  care 
Is  slaves  of  you  to  make, 

While  you  live  there: 
Come  quit  their  barren  lands 
And  leave  them  in  their  hands; 
'Twill  ease  you  of  their  bands 


THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

For  who  would  be  a  slave 

That  may  be  free? 
Here  you  good  land  may  have 

But  come  and  see. 
The  soil  is  deep  and  good 
Here  in  this  pleasant  wood, 
Where  you  may  raise  your  food 

And  happy  be. 

West  of  the  Mountain  Green 

Lies  Rutland  fair! 
The  best  e'er  was  seen 

For  soil  and  air: 
Kind  Zephyr's  pleasant  breeze 
Whispers  among  the  trees, 
Where  men  may  live  at  ease 

With  prudent  care. 

Here  glides  a  pleasant  stream 

Which  doth  not  fail 
To  spread  the  richest  cream, 

O'er  the  intervale — 
As  rich  as  Eden's  soil 
Before  that  sin  did  spoil, 
Or  man  was  doomed  to  toil 

To  get  his  bread. 

Here  little  salmon  glide 

So  neat  and  fine, 
Where  you  may  be  supplied 

With  hook  and  twine; 
They  are  the  finest  fish 
To  cook  a  dainty  dish, 
As  good  as  one  could  wish 

To  feed  upon. 

The  pigeon,  goose  and  duck, 

They  fill  our  beds; 
The  beaver,  coon  and  fox, 

They  crown  our  heads; 
The  harmless  moose  and  deer 
Are  food  and  clothes  to  wear; 
Nature  could  do  no  more 

For  any  land. 


EARLY   POETS    OF   VERMONT 

There's  many  a  pleasant  town 

Lies  in  this  vale, 
Where  you  may  settle  down; 

You  need  not  fail. 
If  you  are  not  too  late, 
To  make  a  fine  estate  ; 
You  need  not  fear  the  fate, 

But  come  along. 

Here  cows  give  milk  to  eat, 

By  Nature  fed; 
Our  fields  afford  good  wheat 

And  corn  for  bread ; 
Here  sugar  trees  they  stand 
Which  sweeten  all  our  land, 
We  have  them  at  our  hand, 

Be  not  afraid. 

Here  roots  of  every  kind 

To  preserve  our  lives, 
The  best  of  anodynes 

And  rich  costives; 
The  balsam  of  the  tree 
Supplies  our  chirurgy; 
No  safer  can  you  be 

In  any  land. 

Here  stand  the  lofty  pine 

And  makes  a  show; 
As  straight  as  Gunter's  line 

Their  bodies  grow ; 
Their  lofty  heads  they  rear 
Amid  the  atmosphere 
Where  the  wing'd  tribes  repair 

And  sweetly  sing. 

The  butternuts  and  beach, 

And  the  elm  tree, 
They  strive  their  heads  to  reach 

As  high  as  they; 
But  falling  much  below, 
They  make  an  even  show — 
The  pines  more  lofty  grow, 

And  crown  the  woods. 


8  THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

We  value  not  New  York, 

With  all  their  powers, 
For  here  we'll  stay  and  work — 

The  land  is  ours ; 
And  as  for  great  Duane 
With  all  his  wicked  train, 
They  may  eject  again, 

We'll  not  resign. 

This  is  that  noble  land 

By  conquest  won, 
Took  from  a  savage  band 

With  sword  and  gun ; 
We  drove  them  to  the  west, 
They  could  not  stand  the  test, 
And  from  the  Gallic  pest 

This  land  is  free. 

Here  churches  we'll  erect 

Both  neat  and  fine ; 
The  gospel  we'll  protect, 

Pure  and  divine; 
The  pope's  supremacy 
We  utterly  deny. 
And  Louis  we  defy — 

We're  George's  men. 

In  George  we  will  rejoice, 

He  is  our  king; 
We  will  obey  his  voice 

In  every  thing; 
Here  we  his  servants  stand 
Upon  his  conquered  land — 
Good  Lord  may  he  defend 

Our  property. 

In  1778  Rowley  was  elected  Chief  Justice  of  Rutland 
County  Court,  and  in  the  same  year  was  chosen  the  first 
representative  from  Danby  in  the  General  Assembly  of 
Vermont.  This  last  office  he  held  for  three  successive  years. 
He  afterwards  removed  to  Shoreham  and  was  the  first  clerk 
of  that  town.  The  Bennington  Gazette  and  the  Rural 


EARLY   POETS   OP   VERMONT  9 

Magazine  were  the  mediums  through  which  he  communi 
cated  with  the  public  and  a  poem  by  Saxe  can  hardly  be 
more  prized  by  a  modern  periodical  than  the  effusions  of  this 
rustic  bard  were  by  the  Rutland  and  Bennington  editors. 
He  was  not  without  a  sort  of  wit,  which  showed  itself,  how 
ever,  not  so  much  in  his  more  labored  productions  as  in  the 
impromptu  efforts  of  his  muse.  Some  of  these  are  almost 
epigrammatic  in  their  smartness.  It  is  said  that  on  one 
occasion  he  and  Allen  were  on  a  surveying  expedition  in 
the  winter,  when  Allen  had  the  misfortune  to  inflict  a  severe 
blow  with  an  axe  on  his  foot,  splitting  it  open  for  some 
distance.  No  means  of  surgery  were  at  hand,  and  Allen's 
only  resort  was  to  take  off  his  boot  and  go  barefoot  on  the 
snow,  hoping  that  the  extreme  cold  might  stanch  the  flow  of 
blood.  Rowley  noticed  the  peculiar  shape  of  the  bloody 
track  on  the  snow,  and  extemporized  this  verse : 

"A  cloven  foot  without  a  boot, 

A  body  full  of  evil; 
If  you  turned  back  upon  the  track 

You'd  think  it  was  the  devil." 

It  might  be  unjust  both  to  Allen  and  to  Rowley  to 
suggest  that  there  was  more  truth  than  poetry  in  this  verse, 
but  to  say  that  there  was  about  an  equal  proportion  of  each 
can  not  detract  from  the  reputation  of  either. 

Another  tradition  relates  that  Rowley,  who,  like  other 
poets,  was  quite  careless,  to  say  no  more,  in  regard  to  his 
personal  appearance,  was  once  in  the  store  of  Apollos 
Austin  of  Orwell  when  the  merchant  bantered  him  about  his 
hat,  which  he  declared  was  altogether  too  dilapidated  to  a 
man  holding  the  high  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace.  At 
length  Austin  proposed  to  give  him  a  new  hat  if  he  would 
off-hand  make  a  verse  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  With 
out  the  delay  of  a  moment  Rowley  caught  off  his  venerable 
tile,  saying: 


10  THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

"There's  my  old  hat,  and  pray  what  of  that, 
It's  as  good  as  the  rest  of  my  raiment. 

If  I  buy  me  a  better  'twill  make  me  your  debtor, 
And  you'll  send  me  to  jail  for  the  payment." 

The  merchant  promptly  redeemed  his  pledge.  It  is  fair 
however,  to  say  that  another  tradition  ascribes  the  author 
ship  of  the  same  verse  to  a  man  by  the  name  of  Bronson  in 
Bennington,  while  the  historian  of  Ticonderoga  claims  that 
it  was  the  production  of  a  resident  of  that  town.  In  the 
absence  of  a  Court  of  Literary  Chancery,  before  which  to 
bring  these  rivals  by  a  bill  of  inter-pleader  to  settle  this 
disputed  claim,  the  real  authorship  of  the  verse  must  remain 
a  debated  question. 

Rowley  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  76,  and  died  in 
August  1796,  at  Cold  Springs  in  West  Haven.  The  Benning 
ton  Gazette  of  Sept.  2, 1796,  contained  the  following  obituary : 

"At  Cold  Springs,  West  Haven,  in  the  76th  year  of  his 
age,  the  justly  celebrated  Green  Mountain  Patriarch, 
Patriot  and  Poet,  Thomas  Rowley,  Esq.  He  moved  into 
Vermont,  then  called  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  in  a  very 
early  day,  with  a  young  growing  family,  who  have  since 
spread  themselves  very  extensively,  and  are  very  respect 
able  people.  He  took  a  decided  part  with  Allen  and  Warner, 
not  only  on  the  field  but  in  the  cabinet,  in  their  opposition 
to  the  arbitrary  proceedings  against  the  people  inhabiting 
this  territory.  He  was  an  unmoveable  friend  to  merits  and 
possessed  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  who  were  ac 
quainted  with  him.  He  represented  the  town  he  lived  in  to 
a  very  respectable  degree,  in  assemblies  and  conventions, 
and  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Rutland  County 
until  in  his  advanced  age  he  removed  out  of  it.  As  a  poet 
he  was  blest  with  a  happy  genius,  and  was  not  behind  many 
who  have  made  a  great  noise  and  figure  in  the  world.  Several 
of  his  poetical  pieces  have  graced  the  Castalian  fount,  while 
others  have  occupied  a  place  in  Dr.  William's  Rural  Maga 
zine,  where  we  hope  they  will  be  deservedly  perpetuated." 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  11 

I  have  discoursed  concerning  Thomas  Rowley  at  this 
length,  not  only  because  he  was  the  very  first  Vermonter 
who  made  any  pretension  to  authorship,  but  because  no 
attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  give  anything  like  a  con 
nected  account  of  him  or  of  his  productions. 

Of  a  genius  somewhat  akin  to  that  of  Rowley  was 
Dubartus  Willard  of  Essex,  or,  as  he  was  familiarly  called, 
Barty  Willard.  Barty  had  good  blood  in  his  veins,  being 
descended  in  the  fourth  generation  from  Major  Simon  Wil 
lard,  who  arrived  at  Boston  in  May  1634,  and  was  the 
ancestor  of  all  the  New  England  Willards,  including  one  who 
was  a  President  of  Harvard  College.  His  parents  were 
Simon  and  Zeruiah  Willard,  and  he  was  born  in  Sheffield, 
Mass.,  June  9,  1745.  He  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Egremont,  Mass.,  removed  thence  to  Great  Barrington,  at  a 
later  day  to  Burlington,  Vt.,  and  subsequently  to  Essex,  of 
both  which  last-named  towns  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers. 
At  the  organization  of  the  town  of  Essex  in  1786  he  was  the 
first  selectman  and  the  first  representative.  He  was  a  ready 
wit,  a  keen  satirist,  a  shrewd  observer  of  men,  a  natural 
rhymester,  and  wonderfully  quick  and  smart  in  repartee. 
His  verses  were  not  always  constructed  in  accordance  with 
the  canons  of  poetical  composition,  but  what  they  lacked  in 
polish  was  more  than  made  up  in  point. 

During  his  residence  in  Massachusetts,  he  was  one  day 
at  Lenox,  the  Shire  town  of  Berkshire  County,  while  the 
County  Court  was  in  session,  and  the  lawyers  there  were 
much  diverted  with  his  poetical  effusions  and  sallies  of  wit. 
One  of  the  lawyers  said  to  him,  "Come,  Barty,  and  take 
dinner  with  us.  It  shan't  cost  you  anything."  He  con 
sented  and  accompanied  the  lawyers.  One  said  to  him, 
"Barty,  we  want  you  to  ask  a  blessing."  Barty,  who  made  no 
pretension  to  religion,  said,  "Well,  if  I  do  I  hope  you  will 
behave  as  men  should  do  on  such  an  occasion,  and  not  make 
a  mock  of  it;  and  I  want  some  one  to  return  thanks."  One 


12  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 

was  accordingly  appointed.     All  stood  up  around  the  table 
and  Barty  began  thus : 

"Lord  of  the  climes, 

Haste  on  the  times 
When  death  makes  lawyers  civil; 

Lord,  stop  their  clack 

And  send  them  back 
Unto  their  father  devil. 

Don't  let  this  band 

Infest  our  land 
Nor  let  these  liars  conquer; 

O  let  this  club 

Of  Beelzebub 
Insult  our  land  no  longer! 

They  are  bad  indeed 

As  the  thistle  weed, 
Which  chokes  our  fertile  mowing ; 

Compare  them  nigh 

To  the  Hessian  fly, 
Which  kills  our  wheat  when  growing. 

Come  sudden  death, 

And  cramp  their  breath, 
Refine  them  well  with  brimstone; 

And  let  them  there 

To  hell  repair, 
And  turn  the  devil's  grin'stone." 

The  landlord  said  they  ate  but  very  little  dinner;  and 
the  one  appointed  to  return  thanks,  rose,  turned  on  his  heel, 
and  did  not  make  the  attempt. 

Barty  was  also  as  sharp  as  most  men  for  a  retort,  as 
witness  the  following  passage-at-arms  between  him  and  Gov. 
Chittenden.  In  1786  Barty  was  chosen  representative 
from  Essex  and  went  to  Williston  the  next  day  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  Governor.  The  Governor,  knowing  of  his 
election,  but  thinking  to  give  a  good  joke,  asked  him  who 
had  been  elected  in  his  town.  Barty  answered:  "For  the 
want  of  better  stock  they  took  me."  "Well,"  said  the 
Governor,  "it's  a  misfortune  that  we  have  got  so  poor  in 
some  of  the  towns  about  here,  as  not  to  be  able  to  get  good 


EARLY  POETS  OP  VERMONT  13 

iron  and  have  to  use  wood  for  wedges."  "That's  a  fact," 
replied  Barty,  "but  misfortunes  never  come  single;  it's  a 
greater  misfortune  that  the  State  is  so  poor  as  not  to  be  able 
to  procure  a  good  well-made  beetle  but  is  compelled  to  use  an 
old  basswood  maul  to  drive  them  with."  The  Governor  felt 
that  he  had  taken  nothing  by  his  motion,  as  indeed  he  had 
not  anticipated  that  he  should. 

Barty  was  as  severe  upon  himself  as  upon  others.  In 
his  old  age  he  fell  into  intemperate  habits  and  became  almost 
blind.  He  was  sensible  of  his  weakness  and  commemorated 
it  in  an  epitaph  which  he  wrote  for  himself  as  follows : 

"Beneath  this  stone  blind  Barty  lies, 
By  drinking  rum  who  lost  his  eyes; 
Here  let  his  carcass  lie  and  rot, 
Who  lived  a  fool  and  died  a  sot." 

LYNDON  ARNOLD. 

Contemporaneous  with  Rowley  and  Willard  there  lived 
in  the  northeast  part  of  the  State  a  young  poet  whose  classic 
scholarship  and  cultivated  taste  gave  promise  of  a  higher 
order  of  poetry  than  Rowley's  rugged  muse  could  ever  have 
aspired  to.  St.  Johnsbury  is  now  more  celebrated  for  the 
practical  than  for  the  poetical,  but  at  that  early  period  Lyndon 
Arnold's  verse  gave  it  its  only  title  to  distinction.  Josias 
Lyndon  Arnold  was  a  native  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  born  in 
1765.  His  father,  Dr.  Jonathan  Arnold,  was  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  that  State,  a  member  of  Congress  for  some 
years,  and  one  of  the  few  friends  which  Vermont  had  in 
that  body  at  the  time  of  the  struggle  for  admission  into  the 
Union.  Lyndon  was  the  flower  of  the  family,  and  advantages 
proportioned  to  his  native  genius  were  bestowed  upon  him. 
Dr.  Arnold  having  removed  to  St.  Johnsbury,  of  which  he  was 
the  principal  grantee  and  the  founder,  sent  his  son  to  Dart 
mouth  College  where  he  graduated  in  1788,  confessedly  the 
first  of  a  class  containing  such  men  as  Daniel  Chipman  of 
our  own  State,  and  Daniel  Dana  of  Massachusetts.  Mr. 


14  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

Dana,  by  whose  recent  death  that  class  lost  its  last  survivor 
and  the  theological  world  one  of  its  brightest  lights,  wrote 
not  long  after  Lyndon's  death  as  follows:  "Arnold  was 
considered  the  flower  of  the  class  and  was  universally  be 
loved.  In  personal  appearance,  manners,  habits,  scholar 
ship,  he  was  foremost.  He  was  spare,  but  handsome  in  face 
and  person,  and  very  sprightly."  After  graduating  he 
taught  the  academy  in  Plainfield,  Conn.,  for  a  few  months, 
was  tutor  in  Brown  University,  pursued  the  study  of  law, 
and,  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  returned  to  St.  Johnsbury 
where  he  opened  an  office,  and  was  the  first  who  practised 
law  in  that  town.  He  had,  however,  but  little  business. 
His  gentlemanly,  not  to  say  aristocratic  manners  were  un- 
suited  to  life  in  the  wilderness,  and  his  kid  gloves  and  well- 
polished  boots  seemed  strangely  incongruous  with  the  stumps 
and  half -burned  logs  which  surrounded  his  office.  Poetry 
consoled  him  for  the  lack  of  business,  and  the  columns  of  the 
Dartmouth  Eagle  were  often  enriched  by  the  productions 
of  his  ready  pen.  Notwithstanding  his  personal  unpop 
ularity  among  the  woodsmen,  his  conspicuous  talents  and  the 
influence  of  his  father  secured  him  an  election  to  the  legis 
lature  for  three  successive  years,  1793,  94,  95.  He  also 
entered  into  military  life,  and  attained  the  rank  of  colonel, 
a  not  undesirable  honor  in  the  early  days.  In  the  meantime 
he  married  Susan  Perkins,  daughter  of  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins 
of  Conn.,  who  invented  the  once  famous  metallic  tractors. 
She  was  characterized  by  one  who  knew  her  in  her  youth  as 
"a  splendid  woman."  Her  beauty  was  of  the  queenly  type, 
Juno  and  Venus  in  one.  She  was  tall,  perfectly  proportioned, 
with  hair  black  as  midnight  and  eyes  of  the  same  hue,  which 
flashed  and  sparkled  with  sensibility  and  intelligence.  With 
her  he  led  a  happy  life  of  little  more  than  a  year,  and  died 
of  a  rapid  consumption,  June  7,  1796,  "justly  regretted  by 
all  his  acquaintances,"  says  a  cotemporary  newspaper, 
though  to  tell  the  whole  truth  he  had  sunk  so  low  in  the 
esteem  of  his  boorish  townsmen  that  some  of  them  openly 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  15 

expressed  their  gratification  at  his  death,  nor  was  it  alto 
gether  easy  to  procure  sufficient  assistance  to  render  the  last 
offices  of  humanity  to  his  remains.  His  widow  married 
Charles  Marsh  of  Woodstock,  whom  she  had  once  rejected 
for  Arnold's  sake,  and  became  the  mother  of  our  distinguished 
fellow-citizen,  George  P.  Marsh. 

Arnold's  poems  were  collected  after  his  death,  and  pub 
lished  in  a  thin  duodecimo  volume  which  has  now  become  very 
rare  and  commands  an  extravagant  price  whenever  a  copy 
of  it  is  offered  at  a  book  auction.  A  large  share  of  the  volume 
consists  of  translations  from  and  imitations  of  Horace,  and 
the  remainder  is  composed  of  songs  and  short  descriptive 
poems.  A  fair  exhibition  of  his  poetical  powers  is  made  in  the 

ODE  To  CONNECTICUT  RIVER. 

On  thy  loved  banks,  sweet  river,  free 

From  wordly  care  and  vanity, 
I  could  my  every  hour  confine 

And  think  true  happiness  was  mine. 

Sweet  river,  in  thy  gentle  stream 

Myriads  of  finny  beings  swim; 
The  watchful  trout  with  speckled  side; 

The  perch,  the  dace  in  silvered  pride; 
The  princely  salmon,  sturgeon  brave, 

And  lamprey,  emblem  of  the  knave. 

Beneath  thy  banks,  thy  shades  among, 

The  muses,  mistresses  of  song, 
Delight  to  sit,  to  tune  the  lyre, 

And  fan  the  heaven-descended  fire. 
Here  nymphs  dwell,  fraught  with  every  grace, 

The  faultless  form,  the  sparking  face, 
The  generous  breast  by  virtue  formed, 

With  innocence,  with  friendship  warmed; 
Of  feelings  tender  as  the  dove, 

And  yielding  to  the  voice  of  love. 

Happiest  of  all  the  happy  swains 

Are  those  who  till  thy  fertile  plains, 
With  freedom,  peace,  and  plenty  crowned, 

They  see  the  varying  year  go  round. 


16  THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

But  more  than  all,  there  Fanny  dwells, 

For  whom,  departing  from  their  cells, 
The  muses  wreaths  of  laurel  twine, 

And  bind  around  her  brow  divine; 
For  whom  the  dryads  of  the  woods, 

For  whom  the  nereids  of  the  floods, 
Those  as  for  Dian  famed  of  old, 

These  as  for  Thetis  reverence  hold, 
With  whom  if  I  could  live  or  die, 

With  joy  I'd  live  and  die  with  joy. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  suggest  that  the  Fanny  cele 
brated  in  the  last  stanza  was  the  Susan  with  whom  he  did 
live  and  die  with  joy. 

ROYALL  TYLER. 

Contemporaneous  for  some  years  with  Arnold  but 
destined  to  a  much  longer  life,  more  voluminous  authorship 
and  greater  reputation  in  many  and  divers  spheres  of  in 
tellectual  effort  was  Royall  Tyler,  a  lawyer  practicing  in 
the  famous  old  town  of  Guilford  in  Windham  County.  He 
was  born  in  the  vicinity  of  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  in  1756, 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  at  the  age  of  20  with  such 
classmates  as  Judge  Christopher  Gore  and  Judge  Samuel 
Sewall,  and  studied  law  with  the  elder  President  Adams. 
Tyler  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Falmouth,  Me.,  in 
1779.  While  there  an  incident  occurred  which  annoyed  him 
not  a  little  as  well  as  afforded  the  legal  brethren  a  frequent 
opportunity  for  merriment  at  his  expense.  He  commenced  an 
action  against  the  captain  of  a  privateer  then  lying  in  Falmouth 
harbor,  and  went  on  board  the  vessel  with  the  sheriff  to 
see  that  the  process  was  duly  served.  But  the  captain,  not 
liking  the  process,  and  possibly  remembering  the  maxim, 
inter  arma  leges  silent,  weighed  anchor  and  sailed  out  of  the 
jurisdiction,  carrying  with  him  the  lawyer  and  the  officer, 
whom  he  landed  at  Boothbay,  and  then  went  on  his  cruise. 
His  first  appearance  in  public  life  was  in  the  capacity  of  aide- 
de-camp  to  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  with  whom  he  saw  some 
active  service  in  the  suppression  of  Shay's  rebellion.  While 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  17 

connected  with  the  army  he  commenced  his  literary  career 
by  writing  a  comedy  entitled  "The  Contrast".  It  has  the 
twofold  distinction  of  being  the  first  production  in  which 
the  Yankee  dialect,  since  become  so  familiar  and  effective, 
was  employed,  and  of  being  the  first  American  drama  ever 
acted  upon  a  regular  stage.  It  was  played  at  the  John  Street 
Theater  in  New  York  in  April  1786,  with  such  success  that 
he  forthwith  produced  another  comedy  entitled  "May  Day; 
or,  New  York  in  an  uproar."  The  first  of  these  comedies 
was  published  for  the  benefit  of  one  of  the  actors.  After  his 
establishment  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Guilford,  Tyler 
commenced  a  series  of  contributions  to  the  periodical  press, 
in  which  he  displayed  such  wit,  humor,  and  imagination  as 
have  hardly  been  surpassed  by  any  other  American  writer. 
He  wrote  copiously  for  the  Eagle  at  Hanover,  N.  H.,  the 
Federal  Orrery  at  Boston,  and  other  literary  papers.  In 
1796  he  became  a  regular  contributor  to  the  Farmers' 
Museum,  published  at  Walpole,  N.  H.,  and  edited  by  that 
elegant  essayist,  Joseph  Dennie,  who  gathered  around 
him  one  of  the  most  brilliant  corps  of  writers  ever  collected 
together  to  advance  the  fortunes  of  such  an  enterprise.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  history  of  American  literature  more  re 
markable  than  the  fortunes  of  that  paper  while  Dennie  was 
editor  and  Tyler  was  a  contributor.  That  a  small  journal 
published  in  an  obscure  country  village  should,  without  the 
aid  of  advertising  or  the  urgency  of  agents,  secure  a  circula 
tion  throughout  the  United  States  and  even  find  readers  in 
Europe,  testifies  more  strongly  than  any  words  can  as  to 
the  amount  and  the  attractiveness  of  the  genius  expended 
upon  it.  Tyler  did  his  full  share  towards  creating  and  main 
taining  its  reputation.  Withdrawing  himself  from  other 
papers  with  which  he  had  been  connected,  he  poured  into 
the  columns  of  the  Museum,  week  after  week,  such  an  abun 
dance  of  good  things  as  almost  surfeited  its  readers  with  the 
sweets  of  literature.  His  articles  purported  to  come  from 
the  shop  of  Messrs.  Colon  &  Spondee,  and  were  introduced 


18  THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

by  an  advertisement  parodying  the  advertisements  of  the 
universal  store  of  that  day.     It  will  bear  repeating  here: 

MESSRS.  COLON  &  SPONDEE. 

Wholesale  dealers  in  verse,  prose  and  music,  beg  leave 
to  inform  the  public  and  the  learned  in  particular  that  they 
propose  to  open  a  fresh  assortment  of  Lexographic,  Bur- 
gurdician,  and  Parmassian  goods  suitable  for  the  season, 
among  which  are  Salutatory  &  Valedictory  Orations,  Syl 
logistic  &  Forensic  Disputations,  &  Dialogues  among  the 
living  and  the  dead.  Theses  in  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Lyriac,  Arabic,  and  the  ancient  Coptic,  neatly  modified 
into  dialogues,  orations,  etc.,  at  the  shortest  notice,  with 
Dissertations  on  the  Targum  and  Talmud,  and  Collations 
after  the  manner  of  Kennicott,  Hebrew  roots  and  other 
simples.  Dead  languages  for  living  drones,  oriental  lan 
guages  with  or  without  points,  prefixes  or  suffixes,  Attic, 
Doric,  Ionic,  and  Aeolic  Dialects,  with  the  Waback,  On- 
ondaga,  and  Mohawk  gutturals,  synalephs,  elisions,  and 
Elipses  of  the  newest  cut,  with  a  small  assortment  of  the 
genuine  Pelopenesian  Nasal  Twangs — Classic  Compliments 
adapted  to  all  dignities,  with  superlatives  in  o  and  Gerunds 
in  di  gratis — monologues,  dialogues,  trialogues,  and  tetra- 
logues  and  so  on  up  to  twenty-logues. 

So  much  of  the  advertisement  was  adapted  to  the  classic 
shades  of  Dartmouth  College;  the  remainder  was  designed 
for  more  general  circulation  and  announced  that  Messrs. 
Colon  &  Spondee  had  on  hand  a  supply  of  Anagrams, 
Acrostics,  Anacreontics,  Chronograms,  Epigrams,  Hudi- 
brastics,  and  panegyrics,  rebuses,  charades,  puns  and  con 
undrums,  by  the  gross  or  single  dozen,  sennets,  elegies, 
bucolics,  georgics,  pastorals,  epic  poems,  dedications,  and 
prefaces  in  prose  and  verse.  Love  letters  by  the  ream, 
summary  arguments  both  merry  and  serious, — sermons, 
moral,  occasional,  or  polemical, — old  orations,  scoured-blunt 
epigrams  newly  pointed,  extemporaneous  prayers  corrected 
and  amended, — alliterations  artfully  allied,  and  periods 
polished  to  perfection.  Adventures,  paragraphs,  letters 
from  correspondents,  provided  for  editors  of  newspapers, 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  19 

with  accidental  deaths,  battles,  bloody  murders,  premature 
news,  tempests,  thunder  and  lightning  and  hail  stones  of  all 
dimensions,  adapted  to  the  season.  Circles  squared  and 
mathematical  points  divided  into  quarters  and  half  shares 
on  hand  a  few  tierces  of  Attic  Salt.  Cash  and  the  highest 
price  given  for  raw  wit,  for  the  use  of  the  manufactory  or 
taken  in  exchange  for  the  above  articles. 

Extensive  as  was  the  assortment  of  literary  wares  offered 
in  this  unique  advertisement,  it  was  hardly  more  extensive 
than  the  variety  of  articles  which  Tyler  actually  produced. 
His  mind  was  rich  and  fertile  and  his  facility  in  composition 
truly  remarkable.  Prose  in  every  style  and  on  all  possible 
subjects  and  verse  in  all  sorts  of  metres  flowed  almost 
spontaneous  from  his  rapid  pen.  His  knowledge  was  at 
instant  command,  and  his  wit  was  absolutely  impromptu. 
He  was  always  ready  not  only  to  furnish  all  that  was  re 
quired  for  the  department  assigned  to  him,  but  to  supply 
the  lack  of  service  on  the  part  of  other  contributors.  This 
lack  was  not  infrequently  occasioned  by  the  excessive  con 
viviality,  to  use  no  stronger  expression,  of  the  writers  for  the 
Museum,  who  were  accustomed  to  meet  often  at  the  village 
tavern,  and  with  cards,  wine,  and  jollity  spend  the  night 
together.  Dennie,  who  was  very  dilatory  in  his  habits  of 
composition,  sometimes  found  himself  disabled  from  writing 
just  at  the  time  when  he  had  most  need  to  be  in  full  pos 
session  of  his  faculties.  Tyler  was  an  unfailing  helper  at 
such  times.  Buckingham,  formerly  the  veteran  editor  of 
the  Boston  Courier,  was  an  apprentice  in  the  Museum  office 
at  this  time,  and  mentions  that  on  one  occasion,  when  Den 
nie,  who  was  contributing  a  series  of  lay  sermons,  left  one 
of  them  in  an  unfinished  state,  Tyler  took  it  up,  wrote  a 
conclusion  to  it,  and  dispatched  it  to  the  printer.  Dennie 
did  not  see  the  sermon  till  after  it  had  gone  to  press,  but  it 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  very  best  sermons  in  the  series. 
In  fact,  Tyler  might  have  answered  for  the  model  from 
whom  Sir  Francis  H.  Doyle  drew  his  picture  of  the  editor: 


20 

"Who  if  he  found  his  young  adherents  fail, — 
The  ode  unfinished,  uncommenced  the  tale, 

With  the  next  number  bawling  to  be  fed, 
And  its  false  feeders  latitant  or  fled, 

Sat  down  unflinchingly  to  write  it  all, 

And  kept  the  staggering  project  from  a  fall." 

His  connection  with  the  Museum  continued  about  four 
years,  when  he  followed  the  fortunes  of  his  friend  Dennie  to 
the  Portfolio,  a  Philadelphia  periodical  of  as  high  standing 
at  that  day  as  the  Atlantic  Monthly  has  now.  While  thus 
delighting  the  public  with  wit,  humor,  satire,  irony,  and 
poetry  in  the  newspapers,  he  did  not  neglect  to  build  up  his 
reputation  by  more  elaborate  productions.  In  1797  he 
wrote  another  comedy,  "The  Georgia  Spec.,  or,  Land  in  the 
Moon",  in  ridicule  of  a  mania  for  land  speculation  which 
prevailed  then  as  it  has  many  times  since.  It  was  repeatedly 
performed  with  great  success.  During  the  same  year  he 
published  anonymously  in  two  volumes  "The  Algerine  Cap 
tive;  or,  The  life  and  adventures  of  Dr.  Updike  Underhili 
six  years  a  prisoner  among  the  Algerines."  This  was  a  book 
of  fictitious  memoirs,  designed  at  first  as  a  picture  of  Yankee 
life,  but  as  he  proceeded  he  took  advantage  of  the  excite 
ment  then  prevailing  in  regard  to  the  piracies  of  the  Alger 
ines,  and  made  his  hero  a  captive  of  those  inhuman  people. 
The  idea  of  the  work  was  ingenious,  the  style  neat  and 
attractive,  and  the  subject  well  calculated  to  secure  atten 
tion.  It  had  a  decided  popularity  and  soon  reached  a 
second  edition.  There  is  a  circumstantiality  and  minute 
ness  of  detail  in  the  narrative  which  gives  it  a  perfect  sem 
blance  of  reality.  The  secret  of  his  effective  style,  like  that 
of  Defoe's,  lies  in  simple  force  of  diction,  homely  and  ex 
pressive  words,  and  an  elaborate  and  precise  statement  of 
details.  Together  these  traits  affect  the  mind  with  all  the 
distinctness  of  reality.  Dr.  Johnson  thought  that  "The 
Adventures  of  Capt.  Singleton,"  Defoe's  second  work  of 
fiction,  was  a  record  of  facts.  Lord  Chatham  quoted  his 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  21 

"Memoirs  of  a  Cavalier"  as  a  genuine  piece  of  biography;  and 
Dr.  Wood,  "The  Account  of  the  Plague  in  London"  as  the 
result  of  personal  observation;  while  the  credence  that  the 
mass  of  readers  bestowed  upon  the  story  of  "Mrs.  Veal's 
Apparition"  is  evident  from  the  large  sale  it  at  once  secured 
for  Drelincourt's  unpopular  essay.  But  none  of  Defoe's 
works,  not  even  "Robinson  Crusoe"  itself,  is  more  vivid  and 
lifelike  than  "The  Algerine  Captive".  In  fact  the  book  was 
mistaken  by  many  for  a  narrative  of  real  events.  The 
venerable  William  C.  Bradley  (a  name  not  to  be  mentioned 
by  any  Vermonter  without  a  passing  tribute  of  admiration 
for  learning  most  varied  and  profound,  eloquence  at  once 
delighting  and  convincing,  and  conversational  charms  rival 
ing  those  of  Johnson  and  Coleridge)  writes  as  follows: 
"I  well  remember  an  honest  Westmoreland  farmer  coming, 
soon  after  the  publication  of  'The  Captive',  into  my  father's 
office,  and  asking  him  with  the  utmost  seriousness  whether 
he  had  read  Dr.  Underbill's  adventures  in  Algiers,  and  the 
difficulty  which  my  father,  who  in  these  respects  was  some 
what  akin  to  Tyler,  had  in  keeping  his  countenance  for  a 
while  until  he  was  satisfield  of  the  man's  sincerity,  and  then 
telling  him  it  was  a  fiction  and  by  whom  written.  The 
indignation  of  the  farmer,  on  learning  what  he  called  the 
gross  imposition,  was  almost  uncontrollable."  It  was  not 
alone  the  unlettered  public  who  were  deceived,  but  it  is 
said  that  an  English  critic  reviewed  the  book  as  if  it  were  a 
narrative  of  real  life. 

There  is  an  anecdote  concerning  Benjamin  Franklin 
which  has  had  great  currency  as  illustrating  how  impossible 
it  is  for  one  to  derive  more  than  a  certain  amount  of  enjoy 
ment  from  the  greatest  wealth.  It  represents  the  philosopher 
as  presenting  an  apple  to  a  little  child  who  could  just  totter 
about  the  room.  The  child  could  scarcely  grasp  it  in  his 
hand.  He  then  gave  it  another  which  occupied  the  other 
hand.  Then  choosing  a  third,  remarkable  for  its  size  and 
beauty,  he  presented  that  also.  The  child,  after  many  in- 


22  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

effectual  attempts  to  hold  the  three  apples,  dropped  the  last 
one  on  the  carpet  and  burst  into  tears.  There,  said  the 
philosopher,  is  a  little  man  with  more  riches  than  he  can 
enjoy.  This  is  certainly  very  much  in  the  manner  of  Frank 
lin,  and  the  anecodote  has  been  repeated  thousands  of  times 
so  if  it  were  true.  Possible  it  is  true,  but  it  is  quite  as  likely 
at  be  otherwise,  for  Dr.  Updike  Underhill  was  the  first  to 
give  an  account  of  it. 

"The  Algerine  Captive"  has  now  become  so  exceeding 
rare  that  an  extract  from  it  will  be  a  novelty  to  most  if  not 
to  all  of  you.  I  quote  from  the  chapter  on  "The  anticipa 
tions,  pleasures,  and  profits  of  a  pedagogue",  which  affords  a 
good  specimen  of  the  author's  style,  as  well  as  illustrates  the 
trials  of  school  teaching  half  a  century  ago, — it  may  be  school 
teaching  in  some  places  now. 

"My  ambition  was  gratified,  and  I  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  a  school  consisting  of  but  sixty  scholars.  Excepting 
three  or  four  overgrown  boys  of  18,  the  generality  of  them 
were  under  the  age  of  7  years.  Perhaps  a  more  ragged, 
illbred,  ignorant  set  never  was  collected  for  the  punishment 
of  a  poor  pedagogue.  To  study  in  school  was  impossible. 
Instead  of  the  silence  I  anticipated,  there  was  an  incessant 
clamor.  Predominant  among  the  jarring  sounds  were, 
"Sir,  may  I  read?  May  I  spell?  Master,  may  I  go  out? 
Will  you  mend  my  pen?"  What  with  the  pouting  of  the 
small  children,  sent  to  school,  not  to  learn  but  to  keep  out 
of  harm's  way,  and  the  gruff,  surly  complaints  of  the  larger 
ones,  I  was  nearly  distracted.  Homer's  poluphlosboio 
thalassess,  roaring  sea,  was  a  whisper  to  it.  My  resolution 
to  avoid  beating  of  them  made  me  invent  small  punish 
ments,  which  often  have  a  salutary  impression  on  delicate 
minds,  but  they  were  insensible  to  shame.  The  putting 
of  a  paper  fool's-cap  on  one,  and  the  ordering  another  under 
my  great  chair,  only  excited  mirth  in  the  school,  which  the 
very  delinquents  themselves  often  increased  by  loud  peals 
of  laughter.  Going,  one  frosty  morning,  into  my  school,  I 
found  one  of  the  larger  boys  sitting  by  the  fire  in  my  arm 
chair.  I  gently  requested  him  to  move.  He  replied  that  he 
would  when  he  had  warmed  himself;  "father  finds  wood,  not 
you."  To  have  my  throne  usurped  in  the  face  of  the  whole 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  23 

school  shook  my  government  to  the  center.  I  immediately 
snatched  my  two-foot  rule  and  laid  it  pretty  smartly  across 
his  back.  He  quitted  the  chair  muttering  that  he  would 
tell  father.  I  found  his  threat  of  more  consequence  than  I 
had  apprehended.  The  same  afternoon  a  tall,  raw-boned 
man  called  me  to  the  door,  immediately  collaring  me  with 
one  hand  and  holding  a  cart-whip  over  my  head  with  the 
other,  and  with  fury  in  his  face  he  vowed  he  would  whip  the 
skin  from  my  bones  if  ever  I  struck  Jotham  again;  ay,  he 
would  do  it  that  very  moment  if  he  was  not  afraid  I  would 
take  the  law  of  him.  This  was  the  only  instance  of  the 
overwhelming  gratitude  of  parents  I  received.  The  next 
day  it  was  reported  all  over  town  what  a  cruel  man  the  master 
was.  'Poor  Jotham  came  into  school  half  frozen  and  nearly 
fainting;  master  had  been  sitting  a  whole  hour  by  the  warm 
fire,  he  only  begged  him  to  let  him  warm  himself  a  little 
when  the  master  rose  in  a  rage  and  cut  open  his  head  with 
the  tongs  and  his  life  was  despaired  of.' '' 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  Tyler's  versatility 
and  facility  of  composition.  This  occasioned  very  frequent 
demands  upon  his  pen  on  public  occasions,  and  he  was 
always  ready  with  an  ode,  a  song,  an  epigram,  a  prologue, 
or  whatever  else  was  best  suited  to  the  case  in  hand.  A 
Fourth  of  July  Ode  for  a  celebration  of  that  day  at  Windsor, 
and  a  convivial  song  for  the  same  occasion  are  among  the 
best  of  his  productions  in  that  line,  and  are  full  of  life  and 
vigor.  A  better  illustration,  both  of  his  readiness  and  his 
keen  wit  is  furnished  by  some  verses  which  he  wrote  at  Wind 
sor  while  the  Legislature  was  in  session  there  in  1793.  Louis 
R.  Morris  of  Springfield  had  just  been  elected  Brigadier- 
General,  on  which  occasion  he  gave  a  great  dinner  and  in 
vited  all  the  prominent  men  of  the  State.  Near  the  close 
of  the  entertainment  Tyler  was  called  on  for  some  approp 
riate  verses,  and  taking  his  pencil  he  dashed  off  the  follow 
ing  impromptu: 

Talk  not  of  your  Washingtons, 
Hancocks  and  Sullivans, 
And  all  the  wild  crew; 


24  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

Our  Tom  set  on  high 
With  his  single  eye 
Can  more  espy 

Than  they  can  with  two. 

Here's  to  eagle-eyed  Gideon, 
Who  keeps  his  eye  steady  on 
And  is  ever  ready  on 

The  public  amounts. 
And  to  Ira  our  Treasurer, 
Eke  our  land  measurer, 
God  soon  send  him  leisure  more 

To  settle  his  accounts. 

To  the  brave  General  Enos, 
Who  steps  firm  between  us 

And  cuts  a  great  dash ; 
To  that  son  of  Zion, 
Judah's  young  Lyon, 
To  melt  his  ore  iron, 

May  he  never  lack  cash. 

Now  Bradley  our  General 
Who  ever  so  well 
A  story  can  tell, 

Our  glasses  must  fill; 
He  can  turn  black  to  white, 
And  is  always  in  the  right, 

Be  on  which  side  he  will. 

Here's  to  Morris  our  Brigadier, 
Who  so  kindly  invites  us  here 

And  gives  us  this  treat; 
And  to  the  noble  Tichenor, 
Who  has  so  long  been  wishing  for 
And  ever  will  be  itching  for 

The  Governor's  seat. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  of  Tyler  only  as  a  wit  and  a 
poet,  but  he  was  also  a  lawyer  and  a  judge.  It  is  not  quite 
easy  to  believe  that  he  could  excel  as  a  lawyer.  Human  na 
ture  is  reluctant  to  acknowledge  superior  excellence  and 
especially  reluctant  to  admit  that  one  person  can  excel  in 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  25 

diverse  and  seemingly  contradictory  departments  of  effort. 
"We  grow  tired  of  hearing  of  the  justice  of  Aristides,  and  we 
revenge  ourselves  on  him  in  one  form  or  another.  If  a  man 
be  a  Webster  or  a  Clay  we  seek  satisfaction  on  him  for  his 
intellectual  superiority  by  dwelling  on  his  moral  infirmities. 
If  he  be  a  Washington  or  a  Wilberforce  we  take  shelter  from 
the  painful  brightness  of  his  character  by  denying  the 
extent  of  the  splendor  of  his  intellect.  And  so  in  the  more 
ordinary  affairs  of  life.  A  man's  acquaintance  will  not 
tolerate  his  being  very  much  their  superior  in  all  things. 
If  they  allow  him  talent  or  learning  they  make  some  de 
duction  from  his  goodness.  If  he  be  conspicuously  good  then 
he  can  hardly  have  been  very  great."  If  he  be  learned  in  the 
law  or  wise  in  theology  he  can  not  be  well  read  in  literature. 
If  he  is  an  omnivorous  reader  of  books  he  can  hardly  have 
much  practical  skill  or  professional  ability.  So  it  is  in  the 
case  of  Tyler.  Seeing  him  the  wittiest  of  the  witty  and  the 
gayest  of  the  gay,  we  are  loath  to  believe  that  he  could  have 
been  a  leader  at  the  bar  and  a  chief -judge  on  the  bench. 
But  he  steadily  advanced  in  his  profession,  and  in  due  season 
reached  the  highest  professional  position  which  the  State 
could  give  him.  His  forte  was  in  advocacy,  for  which  his 
qualifications  were  peculiar  and  admirable.  He  had  a  good 
presence,  a  copious  flow  of  words,  and  a  voice  as  clear  and 
musical  as  a  flute,  wit  that  never  failed  him  and  sometimes 
accomplished  what  law,  evidence,  and  logic  could  not  do. 
The  charms  of  his  oratory  are  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the 
survivors  who  frequented  the  courts  as  jurors  and  witnesses 
half  a  century  ago,  but  it  would  be  idle  to  attempt  to  re 
produce  the  oratory,  even  if  we  could  reproduce  the  exact 
words.  Every  attempt  to  preserve  on  paper  the  splendid 
efforts  of  impassioned  eloquence  is  like  gathering  up  dew 
drops,  which  appear  as  jewels  and  pearls  on  the  grass,  but 
turn  to  water  in  the  hand — the  essence  and  the  elements 
remain,  but  the  grace,  the  sparkle,  and  the  form  are  gone. 
As  might  be  inferred  from  his  possession  of  these  qualifica- 


26  THE   VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

tions,  he  was  eminently  successful  as  a  jury  lawyer.  There 
were  few  cases  of  any  importance  in  his  county  in  which  he 
did  not  receive  a  retainer.  In  1796  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  State's  Attorney  which  he  held  for  five  successive 
years.  Of  the  manner  in  which  he  sometimes  administered 
that  office,  the  following  anecdote  has  been  preserved  by 
tradition.  A  worthless  fellow,  who  had  often  been  subjected 
to  prosecution  without  being  at  all  restrained  from  repeti 
tion  of  his  evil  doings,  was  on  trial  convicted  for  some  offence 
which  exposed  to  imprisonment  for  a  few  months,  and  was 
about  to  be  brought  up  for  sentence.  Tyler,  thinking  he 
could  do  a  better  service  to  the  community  by  ridding  it 
entirely  of  the  man,  than  by  imprisoning  him  a  short  time 
and  then  letting  him  loose  to  repeat  his  crimes,  procured  a 
person  to  visit  the  criminal  and  suggest  to  him  that  when  he 
was  brought  up  for  sentence  he  should  break  from  the 
custody  of  the  sheriff  and  make  his  escape.  The  criminal 
doubted  the  possibility  of  escaping,  inasmuch  as  the  great 
number  of  people  attending  court  would  almost  surely 
surround  and  recapture  him.  But  he  was  reminded  that 
they  would  all  be  taken  by  surprise  and  he  would  be  able  to 
get  a  good  start,  and  the  line  'of  New  Hampshire  was  but  a 
few  miles  distant,  which,  when  he  had  passed,  he  would  be 
safe  from  all  pursuit.  The  plan  then  seemed  more  feasible, 
and  he  resolved  to  make  an  attempt  to  secure  his  liberty. 
Tyler  instructed  the  sheriff  not  to  be  unnecessarily  vigilant 
of  his  prisoner  when  he  was  bringing  him  into  court,  and 
accordingly  a  very  favorable  chance  was  presented,  of  which 
the  criminal  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself.  He  broke  from 
the  officer  and  started  at  full  speed.  The  alarm  was  speedily 
given  and  the  whole  assembled  crowd  was  soon  in  hot  pru- 
suit,  Tyler  leading  the  van.  But  he  soon  became  exhausted 
and  the  others  were  pressing  by  him  to  the  great  danger  of 
overtaking  the  flying  culprit.  Tyler  detained  them  all 
by  the  repeated  exclamation  "Slowly,  gentlemen,  slowly; 
you  mustn't  go  by  the  State's  Attorney."  And  as  the  State's 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  27 

Attorney's  pace  was  constantly  slackening,  the  criminal  was 
not  long  in  getting  out  of  sight,  and  never  came  in  sight 
again  of  that  court-house. 

In  1801  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  in  1803  was  advanced  to  the  Chief-Justiceship,  which 
office  he  held  till  1812.  He  was  the  head  of  the  Court  not 
only  by  position  but  in  scholarship  and  legal  learning.  In 
fact  he  was  for  much  of  the  time  the  only  judge  on  the  bench 
who  had  any  tolerable  knowledge  of  law.  In  1809  he  pub 
lished  two  volumes  of  Reports  of  Cases  decided  in  the  Su 
preme  Court.  They  were  rather  meagerly  reported,  and 
are  now  of  small  value  except  to  the  antiquarian.  In  1811 
he  was  appointed  to  the  professorship  of  law  in  the  Uni 
versity  of  Vermont,  and  at  the  same  time  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from  that  institution.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Corporation  from  1802  to  1813,  and 
was  active  in  efforts  for  its  interests.  He  is  spoken  of  in 
that  capacity  by  the  historian  of  the  University  as  "original, 
perhaps  odd,  leaving  Court  and  going  to  the  College  to 
examine  students  and  reciting  Eclogues  from  Virgil  to  show 
quantity  and  pronunciation".  His  professorship  was  merely 
nominal  as  the  war  of  1812  which  soon  took  place  put  an 
end  to  instruction  at  the  University.  The  only  fruit  of  the 
professorship  was  the  project  of  a  law  dictionary  after  the 
style  of  Jacob's  Dictionary,  but  of  this  no  more  than  4  quarto 
pages  were  printed. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  bench  he  resumed  prac 
tice  as  a  lawyer,  and  resided  at  Brattleboro.  He  continued 
to  write  for  various  periodicals  as  long  as  his  health  would 
permit.  His  death  took  place  Aug.  16,  1826,  and  was  oc 
casioned  by  cancer  in  the  face  from  which  he  had  suffered 
for  several  years.  Two  of  his  sons  still  reside  at  Brattle 
boro,  one  of  whom,  the  Rev.  George  B.  Tyler,  is  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  at  that  place. 


28  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 

THOMAS  G.  FESSENDEN. 

Thomas  Green  Fessenden  was  another  of  the  popular 
poets  of  Vermont  half  a  century  ago,  and  so  prolific  that  his 
published  poems  extend  to  four  volumes,  while  his  uncollected 
works  are  probably  sufficient  for  one  or  two  more.  He  was  a 
native  of  Walpole,  N.  H.,  and  a  son  of  Rev.  Thomas  Fes 
senden,  a  preacher  and  author  of  considerable  local  reputa 
tion.  His  classical  education  was  obtained  at  Dartmouth 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1796,  having  supported 
himself  during  the  course  principally  by  teaching  vocal 
music,  in  which  as  well  as  in  several  kinds  of  instrumental 
music  he  was  a  great  proficient.  He  then  studied  law  with 
Nathaniel  Chipman  of  Rutland,  one  of  the  best  lawyers  who 
has  ever  adorned  the  bar  or  the  bench  of  Vermont.  Law, 
however,  was  not  and  could  not  be  Fessenden's  specialty. 
He  had  a  rich  vein  of  humor,  which  soon  began  to  exhibit 
itself  in  a  series  of  poems  contributed  to  the  Dartmouth 
Eagle  and  the  Farmers'  Museum.  Most  of  these  were  pic 
tures  of  rustic  life  in  Vermont,  and  some  of  them  were  un 
doubtedly  more  life-like  than  life  itself.  Among  the  more 
serious  and  most  popular  of  his  early  poems  was  an  ode 
written  and  set  to  music  for  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration  at 
Rutland  in  1798,  when  a  French  fleet  lay  at  Toulon,  supposed 
by  many  to  be  destined  by  Napoleon  for  America.  It 
has  in  every  verse  the  ring  of  genuine  patriotism,  for  which, 
no  less  than  for  its  poetical  merit,  it  is  worthy  of  quotation : 

Ye  sons  of  Columbia,  unite  in  the  cause 
Of  liberty,  justice,  religion,  and  laws; 
Should  foes  then  invade  us  to  battle  we'll  hie, 
For  the  God  of  our  fathers  will  be  our  ally: 

Let  Frenchmen  advance, 

And  all  Europe  join  France, 
Designing  our  conquest  and  plunder, 

United  and  free 

Forever  we'll  be 
And  our  cannon  shall  tell  them  in  thunder, 


EABLY  POETS  OP  VERMONT  29 

That  foes  to  our  freedom  we'll  ever  defy, 
Till  the  continent  sinks  and  the  ocean  is  dry. 

When  Britain  assailed  us  undaunted  we  stood, 
Defended  the  land  we  had  purchased  with  blood, 
Our  liberty  won,  and  it  shall  be  our  boast, 
If  the  old  world  united  should  menace  our  coast: 

Should  millions  invade 

In  terror  arrayed 
Our  liberties  bid  us  surrender, 

Our  country  they'll  find 

With  bayonets  lined, 
And  Washington  here  to  defend  her. 
For  foes  to  our  country  we'll  ever  defy 
Till  the  continent  sinks  and  the  ocean  is  dry. 

Should  Bonaparte  come  with  his  sansculotte  band, 
And  a  new  sort  of  freedom  we  don't  understand, 
And  make  us  an  offer  to  give  us  as  much 
As  France  has  bestowed  on  the  Swiss  and  the  Dutch, 

His  fraud  and  his  force 

Will  be  futile  of  course, 
We  wish  for  no  Frenchified  Freedom, 

If  folks  beyond  sea 

Are  to  bid  us  be  free, 

We'll  send  for  them  when  we  shall  need  'em. 
But  sansculotte  Frenchmen  we'll  ever  defy 
Till  the  continent  sinks  and  the  ocean  is  dry. 


We're  anxious  that  peace  may  continue  her  reign, 
We  cherish  the  virtues  that  sport  in  her  train; 
Our  hearts  ever  melt  when  the  fatherless  sigh, 
And  we  shiver  at  Horror's  funereal  cry! 

But  still,  though  we  prize 

That  child  of  the  skies, 
We'll  never  like  slaves  be  accosted. 

In  a  war  of  defence 

Our  means  are  immense, 
And  we'll  fight  till  our  all  is  exhausted. 
For  foes  to  our  freedom  we'll  ever  defy 
Till  the  continent  sinks  and  the  ocean  is  dry. 


30  THE    VERMONT   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  an  ode  like  that,  with  appro 
priate  music,  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  powerful  effect  upon 
the  men  whose  minds  were  thoroughly  aroused  and  alarmed 
at  the  mere  possibility  of  an  invasion  under  the  lead  of  one 
who  was  beginning  to  make  himself  the  terror  of  the  world. 

In  1801  Fessenden  was  induced  to  go  to  England  for  the 
purpose  of  introducing  a  hydraulic  machine,  which  was  re 
garded  by  those  in  whose  behalf  he  went  as  a  very  important 
invention.  He  found,  however,  to  his  great  mortification, 
that  his  machine  was  no  novelty  in  England,  but  had  long 
been  in  common  use.  But  he  was  unwilling  to  return  to  his 
native  country  with  the  tidings  of  his  ill  success,  and  so 
was  easily  induced  to  engage  with  several  Englishmen  of  rank 
and  influence  in  contructing  a  mill,  to  be  carried  by  the 
waters  of  the  Thames.  In  this  enterprise  he  assumed  a 
fifth  part  of  the  pecuniary  responsibility  and  the  entire  bur 
den  of  the  management,  and  when  the  project  failed,  as  it 
did,  he  found  himself  involved  in  such  difficulties  and  em 
barrassments  that  his  anxiety  and  labors  threw  him  into 
a  severe  sickness.  While  suffering  from  this  sickness  he 
projected  and  commenced,  what  he  finally  completed  in  the 
short  space  of  four  weeks,  his  first  extended  poem.  It  bore 
the  original  and  euphonious  title,  "Terrible  Tractoration  by 
Christopher  Caustic",  and  was  a  biting  satire  upon  the 
medical  profession  in  general,  and  had  special  reference  to 
Perkin's  Metallic  Tractors,  as  they  were  called,  a  quack 
contrivance  which  was  in  great  repute  in  those  days.  They 
were  two  small  tapering  pieces  of  metal,  sold  in  great  num 
bers,  and  at  exorbitant  prices,  and  stated  to  be  perfectly 
efficacious  in  the  removal  of  "acute  and  chronic  rheumatism, 
gout,  sprains,  erysipelas,  epileptic  fits,  pleurisy",  and  num 
erous  other  ailments;  and  they  were  further  alleged  to  be 
equally  successful  in  all  analogous  diseases  of  horse  or  other 
animals.  The  small  pieces  of  metal  were  made  of  zinc  and 
copper,  which  would  cost  at  the  most  but  a  few  pence,  yet 
they  were  sold  in  great  numbers  at  six  guineas  a  set;  and 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  31 

persons  of  high  repute  and  station  bore  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  this  "safe,  speedy  and  effectual  method  of  cure." 
In  a  pamphlet  on  the  influence  of  the  tractors,  published  in 
London,  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins,  the  inventor,  stated  that  "he 
had  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  become  a  resident  in  London 
that  he  might  devote  his  time  and  attention  to  the  diffusion 
of  this  important  discovery  and  its  application  to  the  mis 
eries  of  mankind."  He  alleged  that  among  his  testimonials 
were  vouchers  from  "Eight  professors  in  four  universities 
in  the  various  branches  as  follows:  three  of  natural  phil 
osophy,  four  of  medicine,  one  of  natural  history;  to  these 
may  be  added  19  physicians,  17  surgeons,  and  20  clergymen, 
of  whom  ten  are  doctors  of  divinity,  and  many  other  of 
equal  respectability." 

It  was  soon  demonstrated,  however,  that  it  was  the 
faith  of  the  patient  and  not  the  efficacy  of  the  tractors  which 
wrought  the  cures :  Dr.  Haygarth  of  Bath  and  Dr.  Smith  of 
Bristol  showed  that  they  could  produce  equally  marvelous 
effects  with  "false  tractors"  made  of  wax  and  wood,  pro 
vided  the  patients  did  not  know  the  deceit  practiced  upon 
them,  and  had  entire  confidence  in  the  manner  of  cure 
employed.  The  paralytic  were  made  to  walk,  rheumatic 
pains  were  put  to  flight,  and,  during  the  operation  of  point 
ing  the  false  tractors  to  the  part  of  the  body  affected,  the 
pulse  was  visibly  influenced.  In  one  case  they  produced 
an  increase  of  pain  instead  of  relieving  it,  and  the  patient 
declared  that  after  their  use  for  four  minutes  he  was  in 
more  pain  than  when  the  surgeon  took  five  pieces  of  bone  from 
his  leg,  after  a  compound  fracture,  in  Wales,  and  his  pulse 
was  raised  to  120  beats  a  minute. 

Fessenden  seems  to  have  had  full  confidence  in  the 
healing  efficacy  of  the  tractors,  and  he  wrote  "Terrible 
Tractoration"  by  way  of  defending  them  against  the  attacks 
which  they  suffered.  The  poem  was  published  anony 
mously,  and  it  is  good  proof  of  its  merits  that  it  was  attri 
buted  by  many  to  Gifford  and  by  others  to  Wolcott,  both 


32  THE   VERMONT  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

of  them  English  satirists  of  great  reputation.  It  was  re 
viewed  by  Giff ord  and  warmly  praised ;  and  when  Fessenden 
acknowledged  the  authorship,  he  might  say  as  Byron  did 
on  a  similar  occasion,  "I  woke  up  one  morning  and  found 
myself  famous."  He  followed  up  his  success  by  a  volume 
of  his  poetical  contributions  to  the  newspapers,  with  the 
title,  "Original  Poems."  Both  these  volumes  were  speedily 
republished  in  this  country;  and  when  he  returned  here  in 
1804,  at  the  age  of  33,  he  took  rank  at  once  with  the  leading 
literati  of  the  country.  He  immediately  issued  another 
volume  entitled,  "Democracy  Unveiled,"  a  violent  attack 
upon  the  Jeffersonian  Democrats  of  that  day.  He  continued 
to  produce,  more  or  less  copiously,  almost  every  year,  though 
he  did  not  venture  upon  another  volume  till  1822,  when  he 
published  "The  Ladies'  Monitor;  a  poetical  discourse  on 
female  education."  In  the  meantime  he  had  been  the 
editor  of  the  Reporter,  a  political  paper  published  at  Brattle- 
boro,  and  of  the  Intelligencer,  published  at  Bellows  Falls. 
He  then  removed  to  Boston  where  he  established  and  for 
many  years  edited  the  newspaper  which  is  doubtless  now  a 
favorite  in  many  of  your  homes,  "The  New  England  Farmer. ' ' 
He  now  abandoned  poetry  almost  entirely,  and  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  prosaic  labors  for  the  advancement  of 
agriculture.  He  died  in  1837,  was  buried  in  Mt.  Auburn, 
and  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture 
erected  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

This  quintette  of  worthies,  Rowley,  Willard,  Arnold, 
Tyler,  and  Fessenden,  each  having  his  own  peculiar  and 
original  genius,  enjoyed  a  reputation  and  exerted  an  in 
fluence  in  their  day  equal  if  not  superior  to  what  has  been 
acquired  by  any  or  all  our  modern  Vermont  poets.  Their 
reputation  has  faded  away  or  been  extinguished  by  the 
uprising  of  other  poets,  and  their  published  works  are  to  be 
found  only  in  the  libraries  of  antiquaries.  But  the  impres 
sions  made  upon  the  public  mind  by  the  rude  verse  of  Rowley 
and  Willard  and  the  keen  satire  of  Tyler  and  Fessenden 


EARLY  POETS  OF  VERMONT  33 

assisted  in  forming  the  mental  character  of  the  last  genera 
tion,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  the  intellectual  quali 
ties  of  us  who  now  live.  They  have  labored  and  we  have 
entered  into  their  labors,  and  while  we  possess  what  they 
have  wrought  out  for  us,  let  us  not  fail  from  time  to  time, 
like  Old  Mortality,  to  renew  and  deepen  the  time-worn 
inscriptions  on  the  crumbling  monuments  of  our  fathers. 


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PAT.  m  21,  1908 


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